Some Odds and Ends
by GingaHour
Summary: Drabbles. With notes! Probably all centered around Tsuna.
1. Odds and Ends

Drabbles and parts of stories I may or may not ever get around to actually writing. With notes.

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><p>The question comes out of nowhere.<p>

"Hey, Reborn, can you introduce me to your friend sometime? The man from the Representation Battles."

Reborn pauses, hand halfway to blowing Tsuna off to kingdom come, and aptly says, "No," and explodes one of the underpowered bombs in Tsuna's face, "Don't think you can distract me, Loser-Tsuna. The answer was 8x."

"Ow!" Tsuna cries, uselessly crossing his arms over his face. It's already blackened with soot, hair permed into a windblown spike. "I'm not!" he complains, faithfully reattempting the problem – and yes it's 8x, "It just occurred to me. He really helped out during the Representation Battles – I wanted to thank him."

Tsuna says this with such honest goodwill that Reborn takes a moment to soak up the boy's gratitude before brusquely saying, "I'll be sure to convey that to him. Now answer question thirty-three."

Tsuna whines that he wants to tell the man himself, and Reborn hides a smirk.

Message received, Loser-student his.

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><p><em>I'm surprised people don't make fun of Tsuna not recognizing Reborn's adult form more? Like, dude, that's my favorite part. Imagine all the time travel shenanigans you can have with that! Tsuna meeting Reborn way back when and calling him "Reborn's friend." Assuming maybe "Reborn" is some kind of code name for insane world-best hitmen. <em>

_Speaking of._

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><p>Tsuna is pretty certain that he's some decades in the past, but Reborn's friend looks as old as he'd seen him way back when (in the future) he was in middle school.<p>

"So, what's your name?" Tsuna asks, first thing.

The man glares, "None of your business."

Tsuna's Italian isn't the best, (he's hardly gotten through how to greet people and ordering food off menus in restaurants with Gokudera's patient tutelage) but whatever the man just said doesn't sound like a name.

"None-of-your-business?" Tsuna tries, the long word getting tangled under his tongue. Maybe he's been spoiled, knowing Italian people with simpler names like Dino and Basil.

The man levels Tsuna with such an affronted look that Tsuna grimaces.

Darn it, when's the bazooka's effects going to wear off?

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><p><em>Yeah I'm not touching that kind of plot device again. I already have one going with the other story.<em>

_Also language barriers. I don't know what the fandom consensus on Tsuna learning Italian is, but knowing No-Good Tsuna, it'd take a bit. A lot a bit._

_But aHAHA what if Tsuna's language teacher was someone less patient than say, Gokudera. _

_Someone like Xanxus._

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><p>Xanxus decides that if he's going to deal with his. His. <em>Loss<em> to one Sawada Tsunayoshi over the Ring Battles some three years ago, Sawada is going to have to change his. Everything.

There is no way Xanxus is going to admit to losing to someone as _soft _as the brat.

He starts by volunteering to be Sawada's Italian language tutor.

(Why no one, other than the brat's Guardians, thinks to stop him, Xanxus isn't sure, but chalks it up to his intimidating demeanor and not the indulgent smile the old fart gave him when he suggested the idea.)

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><p><em>And then the outcome:<em>

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><p>Xanxus looks up as Vongola Decimo walks into the room and greets causally, too casually, "Piss off, fucker."<p>

Not missing a beat, despite the round of startled twitches that flies around the room, Sawada Tsunayoshi, replies, "Fuck you too, Asshole," with a smile that could possibly work as its own light bulb. (Xanxus has to look away a bit.)

Vongola Nono goes down with a choke, and Xanxus laughs.

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><p><em>Tsuna tried so hard to learn Italian, but now he's going to have to unlearn it. Sorry, kid.<em>

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><p>Tsuna drinks Americano.<p>

Because Real Mafioso (which he is Not) drink their coffee black and Tsuna can't handle how strong espresso is.

Reborn is sure to remind Tsuna of how pathetic he is every time they go for coffee. Which they do often. Because while Nana is the best cook on this side of the planet, she doesn't quite know how to brew coffee. And Reborn demands that Tsuna learns how to drink coffee before they go off to Italy one of these days.

(Reborn has never given Tsuna a definite date, and it's been at least a year since he started threatening him. Tsuna suspects he'll just wake up one day on an airplane and makes certain that he has a rudimentary Japanese to Italian dictionary on him at all times. For reference.)

They've always drunk tea at home anyways.

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><p><em>I had a cup of Americano this morning and I couldn't finish it. It just kept getting more bitter the more I drank it, and I don't want to know the people who can drink straight up shots of espresso without cream or sugar. They're probably Mafioso.<em>


	2. Miasma City

Less humor, more mystery/action? This one's an AU with monsters and dead people and a very normal human Tsuna. The setting is based off a story my friend and I'm working on aha.

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><p>Tsuna doesn't make it five minutes off the train before he's assaulted.<p>

Oh he's known he'd be. In a city full of tourism like Neo Venice, there really wasn't much to be done for your wallet other than to stuff it down your underwear, and even then. Tsuna wasn't really for that kind of thing. Even if his mother had sewn a pocket onto his boxers to keep his valuables in.

A few pickpockets, Tsuna imagines he'd be kind of okay against. He's gotten pretty good at protecting his food against the same kind of thief since the one month some kid named Lambo showed up at his house, declaring he'd be Tsuna's escort to Italy or another. These days he could even get an egg roll or two down his throat before the rest are devoured.

So hand-slapping Tsuna had down. Probably plenty enough to deter smaller pickpockets.

Some kind of giant, furry, monstrosity stares Tsuna down, holding Tsuna between its hulking, sparking body and the station wall. Smoke belches from its slightly open mouth, and into Tsuna's hyperventilating face. It tastes like cheap cigarettes.

Tsuna faintly hopes Lambo takes much longer in the toilet. The kid was maybe fifteen? Sixteen? Too young to watch Tsuna get eaten alive by some cigarette monster thing.

Tsuna's too young to die too, but what can you do?

"I-I don't taste good! I swear!" Tsuna stutters out, trying to slide out underneath the monster's arm. (This kind of hold is the one Tsuna's seen in his mother's day dramas, and really? Really not the way he wants to go.) "S-so – "

The monster roars.

Hot air plasters Tsuna's hair back, and his face feels uncomfortably burnt. Ow.

Tsuna takes one breath of clear air.

And screams.

He's not sure what he meant to accomplish with that, but at the very least, he feels slightly better. Stress relief. He just kind of wishes he hadn't sounded so lady like with that screech.

The monster doesn't seem to appreciate his high-pitched shriek either. It screams back at Tsuna, leaning back, jaws clenched as more smoke pours out of the sides of its mouth.

The sparks stop – then explode out as full-blown fire.

Tsuna covers his face with his arms. He's going to be burnt to death. A step up from being eaten alive, maybe.

However, instead of Tsuna's inevitable firey death, a cool wind blows against Tsuna's front. He hears the monster roar again, but from his left, and the sound of some kind of struggle.

Tsuna dares to crack an eye open.

The monster is on the ground, moaning in what Tsuna assumes is pain. Red fire gushes out of a horizontal slash across its left side, and it groans, a giant paw-like hand coming up to cradle its wound.

"Haha, it seems like I finally got a good hit on you! Lucky!"

Tsuna gapes as he stares at some kind of winged man in a police uniform standing a few meters away, holding a glowing blue Japanese style sword. The man's sleek, black, feathered wings stretch and nestle themselves more snugly on his back, and he crouches, sword held ready.

"Get ready, Monster. My next attack will be the last." The man promises, tone entirely different from the lighthearted one he'd used before.

The monster groans again, feebly finding its feet and crouching. The flames keep gushing from the wound in its side and – and Tsuna moves before he knows what he's doing.

"Wait! Hey, wait!" He cries, terrified of the words coming out of his mouth. "Stop!"

Tsuna plants himself in between the monster and the winged man, arms outstretched. His limbs quake. What is he doing? "S-stop! Don't kill it!"

The man pauses, hands going slack against the hilt of his sword. "Hey, you, move it! What do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know!" Tsuna shouts back, 'cause he really. Doesn't. The monster behind him just tried to crispy fry him a few moments ago. He should be cheering the other man on. But. "But you can't kill him! Please!"

"You don't know what you're doing. Move." The man orders Tsuna, but Tsuna doesn't. He's not sure why, but he can't let this man kill that monster. It wouldn't be right.

"I'm sorry!" Tsuna says.

He doesn't feel the heat from the monster at his back any more.

When Tsuna turns around to look, the monster is gone, there's only a sooty black mark on the ground where it used to be.

His knees give out.

He'd just protected some monster from his savior. What was he doing?

Tsuna closes his arms around his face. He'd just gotten off a plane and a train and he didn't even know the local language. And he'd been attacked by some monster out of a terrible shounen manga or something. It's too much.

"Hey."

Tsuna looks up. The man from before stares at Tsuna, crouched down to be at eye level. His glowing sword is gone, a wooden bamboo one resting easily against his shoulder instead, and the wings have disappeared. Tsuna wonders if he hallucinated the whole thing.

"Hey," the man says again, "Are you alright?"

Tsuna blinks. Isn't he going to ask Tsuna _why_ he defended the monster? Or something? Not that Tsuna would have been able to give him an answer, but still. "U-uhm, no. I'm okay." Tsuna says, dazed.

The man grins. "Okay. Good." A warm hand settles on Tsuna's hair, ruffling it. "You shouldn't be out at this time. Monsters like that will come and eat you."

"U-uhm, just, what was that…?" Tsuna blurts, unable to help himself, "Was that really a monster? Why was it _on fire_?"

The man laughs, the sound hollow. "That," he says, "Was a Grudge Monster. I'm supposing you're new here? You should get out of the streets as soon as possible. Do you have a place to stay?"

A Grudge Monster. Capital letters included. Tsuna flounders at the man's questions. "Uhm, I think? I don't know. Lambo was supposed to – "

Wait.

"L-Lambo!" Tsuna shouts, remembering his travel companion slash escort slash ex-household freeloader, "Oh, no, I need to check on – "

"Geez, I left you for like, five minutes, Tsuna-nii!" Tsuna sighs in relief as lanky Lambo walks towards them, a few pieces of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of one shoe. "_He didn't get mugged or anything, did he, officer_?" Lambo says, in Italian, and Tsuna realizes with a start that he and the officer had been speaking in Japanese the whole time.

They're not even in Japan.

"_No, no, nothing like that at all_!" The man replies, smiling. "_I was just telling him that it's not safe out at this time of night. Do you two have a place to stay? I'll escort the two of you there._"

Tsuna, who does barely passible Italian because he'd been forced to take a foreign language class in college, grimaces at the man's terrible accent. He can barely understand it.

Lambo seems to agree. "_Uh, no. I think we're good. Our hotel isn't too far from here anyways._" He tells the man, and leans down to pull at Tsuna's arm. "Come on, Tsuna-nii. Mama would kill me if you don't call her at the hotel."

Still in some matter of shock, Tsuna doesn't resist the teen's pull, letting the boy help him up and pat him down. Tsuna looks back once as Lambo gathers their luggage, and the officer is gone.

As if he'd been swallowed by the night itself.

Tsuna wants to go home.

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><p>Yeeeah. No one learns that much of a foreign language in one or two classes, but shh.<p>

I'll probably post notes or continue this on my Tumblr or something. I'm not committing to anything on here aAHAHHA.


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